Engelberg to Paris with a night on the town

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Tuesday July 25



Up early and showered. Spent time finishing yesterday's blog. Finally caught up to today. Lol. Of course there's only 2 days left of this trip with the group. Took some time to enjoy the view of the Alps from my balcony even though it was raining. One of the best hotels I've stayed in on this trip. Headed for breakfast. Had some scrambled eggs but they still taste funny. Loaded up on bacon and croissants. We left the hotel at 7:30 am. 6+ hours to Paris.



We had mostly rain all the way to the border of France. We didn't have to stop other than to get a stamp on a paper invoice for one of the travelers who spent more than €300 on an item. We didn't get a stamp for our passports since France is part of the EU. We made a 30 minute stop about an hour into France. While in line for the women's restroom (door was open but we had stalls) anyone could see directly where the men were using the urinals. Patricia had her husband Robin shut the door it didn't help. The door had a window!! Grabbed a ice cream bar and a energy drink before heading back to the bus.



The land was pretty much the same as in Italy. Lots of farms for wheat and corn. But was we entered the Burgandy area, there were lots of forests. We passed a few large vineyards. Scott said to look out for the chateaus but only saw 2 from the highway. The weather was cool and we had scattered rainfall and sunshine. We stopped much later than usual for lunch. Once again it was at a roadside restaurant/gas station. Once again the lines were long for getting food or using the toilets. (Although this time I walked into the men's restroom then walked right out into the women's restroom only to find an Indian man washing his hands. I backed out again thinking WTH. Then the attendant told the man to leave.) I ended up at the gas station side of the rest stop for my lunch of microwaved pasta with chicken and a cold salsa chicken wrap. I gobbled that down and went outside to get on the bus feeling queasy due to the hustle and bustle to do everything in 45 minutes. Needless to say I will NOT miss this part of the trip.



Paris is the capital of the French Republic and the main town of the Île-de-France region . The river Seine divides the town into a northern ( Rive Droite , "right bank") and a southern part ( Rive Gauche , "left bank"). With over 2.2 million inhabitants, Paris is the fifth largest city in the European Union and with over 12.4 million people. Paris is the preeminent political, economic and cultural center of the centralized France, with three airports and six terminals, the largest of which is the traffic hub. Parts of the banks of the Seine are now part of the UNESCO World Heritage site , which is also the seat of UNESCO and the OECD and the ICC . Sights such as the Eiffel Tower , Notre-Dame or the Louvre make the city a popular tourist destination. With around 16 million foreign tourists per year, the city behind London and Bangkok is one of the most visited cities in the world. The Paris metropolitan area records more than 47 million guests from home and abroad and over 184 million overnight stays. Today's Paris developed from the Celtic settlement "Lutetia" on the Île de la Cité since the 3rd century . Later on, the Romans built a town on the Seine, which in the 6th century became the main residence of the Franconian Empire . A prosperity of art and culture was experienced by Paris in the 16th century under the influence of Francis I. Through absolutism , especially under Louis XIV in the 17th century, the city was enriched by numerous baroque buildings and boulevards, thus becoming an exemplary example of baroque urban planning. Although the royal residence was transferred to Versailles in 1682 , It remained the center of the country because of its political and economic importance. In the French Revolution from 1789 onwards, it had a historical significance. The industrialization led in the 19th century in Paris to a huge increase in population, so in 1846 the first time the barrier of one million inhabitants has been exceeded. Today it is the capital of French-speaking and one of the most important cities of the Western world.

We arrived at Novotel Eiffel Tower about 4:30. We can see the Tower just down the road so we are very close (not just photo shop close like in Athens). Across the street we saw a copy of the Statue of Liberty. I am on the 6th floor of a 30 floor hotel. We've stayed in these before so at least our last 2 days will be in pleasant surroundings. Tonight everyone is going to the Moulin Rouge for a dinner and a show. I felt that €160 ($186) was way too pricey. I did hear about the menu choices and yes they were high end food but for me I could do more with that money. So I had planned on visiting the Louvre but they're closed on Tuesdays. Instead, I've planned to ride the Hop on hop off night tour bus and tour the city myself. According to MapQuest it's about an hour and 10 minutes walk from my hotel. However, it does go past the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe. Once my luggage arrived to my room, I was able to head out onto the town.

The first thing I did was to go across the street to the bridge that spans the Seine River and the island on which a pedestrian parkway and the Statue resides on to take pictures of the Statue of Liberty. Then I was able to get a good picture of the Eiffel tower while standing on the bridge over the Seine River. Next, I'm proceeded to walk along the Seine River until I reach the Eiffel Tower. It is quite a brilliant piece of work. I couldn't get under it because you had to get tickets to enter that area, but we will be visiting it tomorrow so I'm not worried about it. I've been crossed another bridge. There was a monument of a reproduction of the Statute of Liberty torch flame. But that was not what was drawing everybody's attention. It was the memorial to Princess Diana. Directly beneath our feet in the tunnel was where she had gotten fatally hurt in a car crash. People have written messages on locks and locked them to the chain that went around the memorial. On the concrete wall overlooking the tunnel people used markers to leave written messages to her also. I then proceed my walk and reached the intersection that had the famous Avenue des Champs-Élysées. The avenue had many high-end stores but lots of average stores. There are also many many many restaurants. I finally reach the end and was able to get some good pictures of the Arc de Triomphe. I've always seen pictures of the traffic going around it, but at ground level, it was really scary seeing all this traffic with no real traffic lanes to be seen. One definitely did not cross the street unless the traffic light said so. By then headed toward my final destination of the tour bus location. I did pass a McDonald's but only use their facilities for restrooms. One of the streets I went down would be Paris's version of Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. Every single block had high-end fashion stores side by side or taking half or more than half of the block. At one of the stores there was a line to get inside to buy items. Most of the stores I passed on my side of the street had security guards in nice suits standing at the door. After leaving the nice street I ended up going down some streets that definitely were not for tourists but for local people. I finally made it to my destination with 35 minutes to spare. It only took me two hours and a half of walking to get there. Unfortunately there was no place to eat that was open other than the restaurant across the street. Since I did not have time to grab a meal I figured I would eat later on. Being there so early I was able to grab the first place in line. about 10 minutes before we boarded, a young couple came up to the front of the bus and stood there playing with their cell phones. After a few minutes, I said to them that there was a line and they needed to get to the end of it. The man looked up from his cell phone and said, "Oh, there's a line? " I then pointed to the long line l of people lined up along the curb right in front of him. The couple then went to the end of the line. Once we boarded I was able to get a seat on top and no one sat next to me. We were delayed by 20 minutes due to a group of 4 that showed up just as we were leaving. They through such a fit, that the manager had us wait. It wouldn't have been a problem until we missed out on the beginnings of the Eiffel Tower light display. All in all it was a nice tour seeing all the sites at night. The weather was great although it was a bit cold from the wind. After we passed the Eiffel Tower I got off the bus with a bunch of other people. I walked around the Tower and then grabbed some churos. Here in Paris it is a very popular treat and they call them "Chichis".



I decided to get a bicycle cab ride to the hotel instead of walking another 30 minutes. He asked for €15 and I got him to agree to €10. As we stopped at a light a group of motorcyclists stopped next to us. My driver acted like he wanted to race them. They in turn acted the same. It was very funny. We got to the hotel and he was very nice the whole way so I gave him the €15 he originally asked for. I went to the hotel's gift shop to look for something crunchy to eat. Grabbed some little petite French cookies (later found out they were horrible) and headed for the elevators. I met up with the group just getting back from the Moulin Rouge. We quickly exchanged pleasantries and I headed for my room for a good night' rest.

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